Personalised Number Plate Information

Number Plates

Number Plates

Each number plate has 1, 2 or 3 letters and one or more numbers. Number plates listed here have recently been sold but we have many similar numbers. Please call us or visit our main number plate website

Number plate results shown. If you want to go to our main website you can use our reg plate search facility.

Regplates have over 99% of all available number plates available to buy online 24 hours a day. We are members of MIRAD, APRT & CNG trade dealers associations.

All number plates are transferred in accordance with the DVLA.

.

Number Plates Recently Sold Search - GSY registrations

Our team of trained personalised number plate staff will professionally handle your transfer as swiftly as possible with all paperwork change over handled for you including the V5, tax disc and MOT certificate. We offer advice without technical 'jargon', and are always competitive on price.

If you are looking to sell a private plate, our personalised registration plates valuations department can give you an accurate market value on your registration number by post or by e-mail.

Personalised Cherished Number Plates

Since their humble beginning in 1903, cherished numbers have continued to increase in popularity often adding the finishing touch to our prized possessions and very often prove to be a valuable investment.

The First Number Plate Ever Issued

A1 assigned in 1903

The Motor Car Act 1903, which came into force on 1 January 1904, required all motor vehicles to be entered on an official vehicle register, and to carry number plates. The Act was passed in order that vehicles could be easily traced in the event of an accident or contravention of the law. Vehicle registration number plates in the UK are rectangular or square in shape, with the exact permitted dimensions of the plate and its lettering set down in law.

T’S happened again – and set a record: Someone paid $745,000 for the numerical NSW plate ‘29’, eclipsing the previous auction record of $689,000 paid for NSW ‘2’ back in 2003.

It also set an Australian auction record for a double-digit number plate, topping the $530,000 paid for the Victorian plate ‘21’ at Shannons Melbourne Winter Auction last July.

Other strong number plate sales were $82,000 paid for NSW ‘9191’ and $35,000 for NSW ‘85758’, taking total sales on the night for the six heritage plates on offer to $956,000.

Classic motorcycles were also hot property, topped by $37,000 paid for an ‘as new’ 1975 Norton Commando Mk3 850cc with just 29km delivery on its odometer, and a 1950s Austin J40 pedal car sold for $9300.

Other impressive results from the auction included a restored 1964 Porsche 356C Coupe which went for $137,000, a restored 1949 48-215 ‘FX’ Holden which commanded $46,000, a 1962 MGA 1600 sports car fetched $52,000 and a stately and exceptionally low mileage Mercedes-Benz 300B ‘Adenauer’ limousine first owned by the Victa lawnmower family sold for $50,000.

As well, a superbly-restored 1970 Ford XY Falcon GT sedan sold for $180,000.

Other News:

A shortage of vehicle number plates has hit the Kenyan market, causing a backlog in the clearance of cars at Mombasa port.

The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) attributed the shortage that started two weeks ago to increased registration of cars that has outpaced supply of number plates.

“Demand is far much higher than supply. There are just too many vehicles being imported into the country, especially second-hand cars,” NTSA director of registration and licensing.

She added that the supply issue will ease after Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, where the number plates are manually made, increases supply.
The law mandates the prisons department to make the plates.

Official data shows that Kenyans bought 15,858 used vehicles in the first quarter of the year, compared to 14,346 units in a similar period of last year, representing a 10.5 per cent growth.

It is mandatory for imported second hand vehicles to be fitted with number plates before leaving the port.

The country imports about 6,000 second hand cars monthly, according to dealers.
Dealers said that the shortage had hit them hard as they were forced to incur storage charges at the port amid cash flow hiccups due to delays as some had taken loans.

“We are incurring heavy storage charges as the cars are detained at the port despite having paid duty and customs clearance cash in advance,” said Charles Munyori, the secretary-general of Kenya Auto Bazaar Association, a lobby for second hand car dealers.

The storage charges are based on the volume of vehicles and the number of days they take at the Mombasa port or at container freight stations.

Industry insiders, however, said the number plate problem normally occurs every time a new registration number comes up as importers delay registration to take advantage of the newest numbers.

The first series of number plates were issued in 1903 and ran until 1932, using the series A 1 to YY 9999. The letter or pair of letters indicated the local authority in whose area the vehicle was registered, for example A - London, B - Lancashire, C - West Riding of Yorkshire. In England and Wales the letter codes were initially allocated in order of population size (by the 1901 census) whilst Scotland and Ireland had their own sequences incorporating the letters S and I respectively, which were allocated alphabetically: IA = Antrim, IB = Armagh, etc. When a licensing authority reached 9999, it was allocated another two letter mark, but there was no pattern to these subsequent allocations as they were allocated on a first come first served basis. There are three interesting anomalies where a zero has been issued - The Lord Provost of Edinburgh has S 0 and his Glasgow counterpart has G 0 while the official car of the Lord Provost of Aberdeen has RG 0. In addition the Lord Mayor of London has the registration LB 0.

It was 1980 when legislation was passed to allow Illinois drivers to order vanity and personalized license plates. As defined then, vanity plates contained up to six letters or the numbers 1 to 999. Personalized plates had a combination of desired letters and numbers. In the very first year, 24,000 state residents decided they wanted to pay extra to show off their vanity to fellow motorists.

Drivers were displaying personalized plates long before 1980 however.

There was no law that he could find before 1980 authorizing such plates. Instead, he figures it likely was a typical case of not what you knew being important, but who you knew.

There’s no question, however, that it was 1907 when the Motor Vehicle Act, which required motorists to register with the secretary of state’s office, became law. For a one-time $2 fee per vehicle, motorists received a round aluminum disk with a registration number to affix to their vehicles. (Drivers had to furnish their own plates until 1911. The disks were dropped in 1917.) From July 1, 1907, to June 30, 1909, the state registered 20,224 vehicles. Sidney S. Gorham, of LaGrange, was issued license plate number 1.

As you might guess, that “one-time fee” didn’t last long. Probably realizing they had a cash cow on their hands, the state began charging an annual fee in 1909 and re-registered all vehicles.

More interesting plate trivia: In 1912, front plates were perforated so more air could flow through a car’s radiator. Aluminum license plates were issued for the first time in 1950. The slogan “Land of Lincoln” debuted in 1954, although a requirement for showing Lincoln’s image was dropped because it was deemed impractical at the time.

Purple and white plates were issued in 1964 to honor both McKendree College and Rockford College (as they were known then). In 1966, for the first time in 30 years, fees were increased 50 cents to pay for a new reflective coating. In 1977, drivers were able to complain about lousy photos on their licenses for the first time. The discontinuation of annual plates in 1979 ended a 67-year run, the longest in the United States. In 1985, all vehicles were charged the same fee ($48) rather than one based on horsepower.

For the motorist who has everything, including a sense of humour! - Reg Plate Special Cherished number plate dealer Image Registrations are offering a unique opportunity for the savvy motorist to show they have the vehicle, the reg plate and a sense of humour! The East Yorkshire based company are marketing the ultimate reg plate to make a tongue in cheek statement.

car registration VUL 64R is offered for sale at £3395, a snip compared to the 'phantom' or 'hummer' it may well end up displayed on.

We think this registration plate will appeal to clients who have all the toys and appreciate the fun aspect of this unique reg number plate" said Bruno Morris at Image Registrations. He went on to say "the plate reads so well as it is almost a prefect spelling of vulgar!".

VUL 64R can be purchased now through Image Registrations, online at www.regplates.com or by telephone on 01482 627 628."

So why do so many Territorians choose to pimp their plates?

To date, there are more than 20,000 personalised plates registered in the NT, making up 11 per cent of registered vehicles.

Part of the reason there are so many could be because of the price — $185 for a variety of designs and up to seven characters.

In Queensland a seven-character personalised number plate will set you back more than $3,000.

But according to Eduardo de la Fuente, a lecturer in creativity and innovation at James Cook University, the fact personalised plates were relatively inexpensive in the NT was not the only reason they were so popular.

"Through popular culture and culture more generally we invest a lot in motor vehicles [because] they're fetishistic objects," he said.

"They become vehicles, if you pardon the pun, for communicating something about ourselves.

"One way of differentiating yourself from the pack via the purchase of a motor vehicle is to buy something extremely exclusive.

"Most of us however are not in a position to buy a Lamborghini, so we may use other means to customise or personalise a car [and] a number plate is a relatively cheap way of doing that."

When Vivien Joseph moved to Darwin in 2011 she was immediately struck by the number of quirky personalised plates.

"It was the very first thing I noticed; it was like a signature for all of Darwin, a free comedy show on the road," she said.

Over the next four years she collected more than 10,000 number plate images, eventually compiling them into a book.

Ms Joseph's explanation of why more Territorian drivers choose to personalise their plates lies in the surrounding landscape and the identity of those living within it.

"It's so different to everywhere else and there's a freedom of spirit, maybe a greater sense of fun and a greater sense of getting away from the norm," she said.

"I guess they [Australian states and territories] all have their own spirits but the Northern Territory seems to have a sort of special quirky one."

As well as collating pictures, Ms Joseph asked some people to tell her the story behind their number plates.

One of the first stories she was told was of a number plate that read CARPDM.

"It was somebody who'd been unwell and depressed and sad but picked their life up again and chose a starting point by buying a new car and a new number plate," she said.

Other number plates that were among Ms Joseph's favourites were POOGURU — a man who wanted to illustrate he was often in trouble with his wife — and FUNSIZ — a young woman with a sense of humour about her height.

Personalised number plates in the NT, and the reasons people choose the combinations they do, is a fascinating topic for Simon Moss, an associate professor of psychology at Charles Darwin University.

He said while no formal studies had been conducted it was clear that Territorians liked to be unique.

"The [Northern] Territory is about expressing yourself, much more so than other states and territories," he said.

"I think a lot of people move to the NT because they don't want to conform and in some ways the amount of personalised plates here reflects that.

"It's a phenomena I'd like to look into a bit further."

Number Plates as an alternative investment

Investing in car registration plates may seem like an unorthodox way of making money and a considerable statement in the process. Nevertheless, hundreds of investors and drivers now choose to purchase car registration plates with significant future returns available. The most obvious reason for purchasing car registration plates is to personalise your vehicle, to make you stand out from the crowd.

Even a mere decade ago, drivers with personalised registration plates were seen as wealthy and successful. In the present day, car registration plates are now more accessible and economical for the everyday working man to purchase. Drivers looking for a potential investment must keep in mind that the registration plate they purchase must be easy to sell on in the future.